


Flame: Endo, Exo

by Jason_M_Lee



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Reflection, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 18:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16001063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jason_M_Lee/pseuds/Jason_M_Lee
Summary: Endothermic: "within-heating"; exothermic: "outside heating". Roy learns to perform both.





	Flame: Endo, Exo

**Author's Note:**

> Fullmetal Alchemist © Hiromu Arakawa and Square-Enix

When it rained, Roy felt as if his own inner flame struggled to stay lit (it burned painfully when the nightmares would occasionally come). The damp weather would make him lethargic and it was practically a battle to get out of bed to get to work in time. Even on days with light sprinkling it made him marginally tired except for black coffee (which could slip to "cranky" depending on how the day panned out).

Why the cold rain seemed so fixated on him, he'll never know. Even when inside the dry headquarters or his own home, he felt as if he had nowhere to escape to at times.

Now, in one of Eastern Command's training grounds, he fought to maintain his inner flame to keep burning, even with the heavy downpour obscuring his vision and the mud threatening to hold his boots.

Ling tapped his sword against a leg once before lunging at the older man. A clap and snap from his right hand barely created a wall of flame that was almost quickly snuffed out, forcing him to whip a streak of fire at Ling with his left. The prince ducked and kicked some mud at Roy, eliciting a curse from the colonel when it obscured his sight.

Immediately, Mustang concentrated on trying to feel his surroundings, to read the Dragon's Pulse that the Xingese had often talked of.

A spark - more like feeling a flutter - from behind had him transmuting a wall and snapping fingers automatically. Xingese curses flew through the air fast, but Roy didn't bother smirking, skipping away from foreign steel as he wiped the mud away to allow another gout of red and orange that allowed him some breathing space. His gloves had been redesigned so that they were still able to throw off some sparks, being made to be somewhat water resistant; the circles was mostly out of habit and as a reminder of past events. He felt his inner flame flare a bit more strongly as the gloves were holding up, part of his mind filing away more ideas.

A ball of mud met another wall. Steel sang through the air, more often cutting blue but in return, there was singed hair and yellow being temporarily scorched. Ling's smile was at the point of splitting his face and Roy was all but grinning widely while they continued to go at each other, even if he got splattered with wet dirt in the eyes again or the young adult got burn marks again. In a way, one could call their sparring a form of alkahestry, their flow healing his fire to a more soothing and steady burn.

As the two men continued their warming dance, Riza and Lan Fan maintained their vigilance from a respective distance. Both felt as if the Flame Alchemist had finally allowed the lessening rain to embrace his inner fire, now burning brighter and steadier.


End file.
